Dark Horse Reviews

"Kate & Allie" star Ari Meyers heads the cast in DARK HORSE, a moving story of a young girl's struggle with change and personal tragedies. High school student Allison Mills (Meyers) is trying to cope with the death of her mother, relocating from LA to northern California and living with an over-protective father, Jack Mills (Ed Begley, Jr.). Eager to defy her father and do something wild, Allison sneaks out one night with her felony-bound boyfriend Clint (Chad Smith). After they get into town, Clint gets drunk, and picks up another girl, and Allison, in a fit of adolescent rage, drives off with Clint's truck and crashes it. As punishment, Allison must do ten weeks of community service. She's assigned to Dr. Susan Hadley (Mimi Rogers) who raises horses and works with handicapped children on her ranch. Allison is not thrilled with doing chores or taking orders from Susan, but gets used to the routine and eventually gets to like life on the ranch. And she quickly becomes attached to Jet, an injured horse that money-hungry owner Perkins (Tab Hunter) wants to race. After finally nursing Jet back to health, Susan and Allison transport him back to Perkins. But enroute they have an accident and Allison is seriously injured while trying to free Jet from his trailer. Allison and the horse both survive but are terribly crippled. Feeling defeated, Allison is resigned to spending her days sitting alone in a wheelchair. Attempts by family and friends to motivate Allison to try to walk again fail. In the final scene, a ranch hand accidentally leaves a tractor in gear which crashes into the barn. Jet falls down but eventually manages to stand up and even start running. Simultaneously, Allison finally stands up and begins slowly to walk again. The obvious parallel in DARK HORSE is, needless to say, Jet the horse and Allison the troubled teen. However, J.E. MacLean's screenplay is geared toward children and the film does succeed in presenting a tale of overcoming adversity and growing up. The most affecting scene is between Brooke Cuskey and Meyers. Cuskey plays Amy, a young girl who's been on crutches her whole life. She gives Allison her crutches and very assertively tells her to stand up. Director David Hemmings has presented this exchange in a way that is straightforward and not sappy. The rest of the cast is equally competent, but Rogers (SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, THE RAPTURE), who's a very powerful actress, doesn't have a very challenging role.